While thousands of Barcelona residents have left their city during this Holy Week in the direction of their second homes on the coast or in the mountains or have flown to European or other destinations, thousands of other tourists have made precisely the opposite journey.
Barcelona has been one of the European capitals with the most reservations, with average occupancy exceeding four days. It is not strange, then, that in the most central streets of the Catalan capital more tourists than residents are seen and heard during these days.
Those who could have left the city in search of other airs. Destinations, in many cases, proximity. To give an example, in l'Escala, a municipality on the Costa Brava with a large percentage of second homes, occupied mainly by Barcelonans, yesterday it was difficult to find a free table to eat.
The same happened in Baix Empordà destinations such as Calella de Palafrugell, where many restaurants and terraces looked enviable from the aperitif until mid-afternoon. "Friday was a real madness and yesterday too, those who didn't book had real problems eating," says Bárbara Hallé, director of the Sant Roc hotel and president of the Union of Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs of the Costa Brava Centre.
In this area of the coast, between Thursday and today, occupancy has fluctuated between 85% and 90%. The majority client, the Catalan tourist and basically from Barcelona, middle-aged and family-oriented. “We have had a lot of last-minute reservations,” says Hallé.
The Barcelonan who can has fled Barcelona during a great Easter that could be the preamble to a very good tourist season, according to the sector's predictions. The large influx of visitors to the most emblematic corners of the city is a thermometer that shows the tourist interest that the Catalan capital arouses, also during Holy Week.
These days Paseo de Gracia is very busy, and there are long queues in front of La Pedrera and Casa Batlló. The surroundings of the Cathedral also have a large flow of visitors. Furthermore, the sector's occupancy forecasts, around 85% in hotels and apartments, also invite optimism.
Most visitors come from North America, Asia or Europe. During this long weekend, the increase in tourists from southern European countries such as Italy, Portugal and Spain stands out, according to Enrique Alcàntara, president of the Association of Tourist Apartments of Barcelona (Apartur).
Tourists who have mostly arrived in Barcelona through the El Prat airport, which during Holy Week has scheduled 9,700 operations, 0.6% more than a year ago. On Friday, with the start of the holidays for many, today and tomorrow will be the busiest days in El Prat. Also today, the return operation will begin for 590,000 vehicles, which will return to the metropolitan area of Barcelona.
